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Be in the fashion - cover your hair

Poster
ca. 1940 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This intended audience for this poster were women, many of whom would not have experienced factory work before the war. Using photographic representation, it illustrates ways in which women could be safe and and yet stylish by covering their hair. The artist employed the graphic style of international Modernism. The use of a surrealist style enabled him to avoid focusing on any particular social class or setting, and so the poster was able to communicate to women from across the social spectrum.

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Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleBe in the fashion - cover your hair (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Colour lithograph
Brief description
'Be in the fashion - cover your hair', safety at work poster signed 'A.R.' and produced by RoSPA, printed by Loxley Bros. Ltd, United Kingdom, about 1940
Physical description
Safety at work poster produced for RoSPA, depicting an abstracted and dark-red factory, set against a blue 'sky', and issuing white smoke from its chimneys. Over this are five photographic images of the heads of women wearing different styles of hats, scarves or hair-nets, framed against patterned backgrounds. The message at the bottom of the poster reads, 'be in the fashion - cover your hair', in blue letters that mimic the style of hand-writing.
Dimensions
  • Height: 76.3cm
  • Width: 50.8cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'be in the fashion - cover your hair' (At the bottom of the poster, in blue letters that mimic the style of hand-writing.)
  • 'MLM/90" (The poster's issue number, printed in the lower left-hand corner, next to the Society's symbol, a cog and a triangle.)
  • 'Issued by the Ministry of Labour and National Service and produced by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Terminal House, 52 Grosvenor Gardens, London S.W.1 / Printed by Loxley Bros. Ltd.'. (Printing and publishing information, printed at the bottom of the poster)
Credit line
Gift of the American Friends of the V&A; Gift to the American Friends by Leslie, Judith and Gabri Schreyer and Alice Schreyer Batko
Subjects depicted
Summary
This intended audience for this poster were women, many of whom would not have experienced factory work before the war. Using photographic representation, it illustrates ways in which women could be safe and and yet stylish by covering their hair. The artist employed the graphic style of international Modernism. The use of a surrealist style enabled him to avoid focusing on any particular social class or setting, and so the poster was able to communicate to women from across the social spectrum.
Other number
LS.2257 - Leslie Schreyer Loan Number
Collection
Accession number
E.1897-2004

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Record createdMarch 17, 2006
Record URL
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